Grout is a material used in reinforced masonry construction. Particularly, grout is placed in the cells of hollow concrete masonry units, sometimes referred to as cinder blocks. The grout must be fluid so that it completely fills the cells to provide a solid, grouted masonry wall. To satisfy these requirements, the grout is more fluid than concrete or mortar. This fluidity allows grout to flow through the grout space, around reinforcing bars and completely surround and bond to rebar and concrete masonry units.
Presently, grout samples are tested for compression as a verification of strength. The traditional method of forming grout samples for testing is to configure twelve concrete masonry units to form three chambers in the form of rectangular prisms. The chambers are lined with filter paper or other paper products. The chambers are filled with grout which is allowed to harden. An alternative procedure for forming grout samples is a multi-cavity container assembly such as shown in Papas U.S. Pat. No. 5,942,192, the specification of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein. This container is made of appropriate laminates such as corrugated cardboard. The container includes a divider insert that divides the container into four rectangular compartments. Each compartment is filled with grout which then hardens to form samples in the form of rectangular prisms. Particularly, each sample has generally square-shaped end walls.
As is apparent, the particular size of the overall sample is dependent on the apparatus used for forming the grout sample.
ASTM's Standard C1019-16 defines a standard test method for sampling and testing of grout. This includes the requirement that the specimens be square in cross section with a width between 3 and 3.75 inches and a height of about two times the width. The test specimen should be square on the ends, with sides planar and perpendicular to the top and bottom.
The container assembly described in the '192 patent is a regular slotted container (RSC) in which the bottom folds are taped closed to form a standard carton. Two identical inserts are folded in place into the RSC to form four cavities in which grout will be placed to form test specimens. While generally satisfactory, this design has two problems. The first arises when assembling the RSC. The folds on the bottom of the carton must be positioned properly when taping to ensure the carton is square and the bottom is flat. The second problem arises when the corners of the inserts do not meet and prevent the test specimen from being square.